


The Most Important Thing

by Mersheeple



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Apprenticeship, F/M, Potions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mersheeple/pseuds/Mersheeple
Summary: “Now Miss Granger, what is the most important thing in the lab?” Severus raised an eyebrow and she paused. It couldn’t be as simple a question as it appeared, could it? Severus pursed his lips and he shook his head, seemingly disappointed she hadn’t answered straight away.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 25
Kudos: 128
Collections: Hearts and Cauldrons Discord Members





	The Most Important Thing

**Author's Note:**

> There is an amazing piece of artwork drawn by the WONDERFUL snake-queen7 on tumblr which I will link.
> 
> I had this idea about...two weeks ago but have only just got it worked out. This is for all my lovely ladies in the Hearts and Cauldrons Discord...I love you all and thank you so much for everything you do and all that you are. You are perfect in every way. <3 <3 <3

One Monday morning, six months into her Apprenticeship, Severus Snape had looked at her and given her one of his secret smiles, the ones she sometimes felt were only reserved for her. He never smiled at any of the other students. Though, she supposed, she wasn’t exactly a student anymore. She was studying for her Mastery in Potions and occasionally helped out in other classes. She had even been asked to supervise detentions for Professor Snape on two occasions.

“Now Miss Granger, what is the most important thing in the lab?” Severus raised an eyebrow and she paused. It couldn’t be as simple a question as it appeared, could it? Severus pursed his lips and he shook his head, seemingly disappointed she hadn’t answered straight away.

She didn’t answer the rest of the day either and had expected him to answer for her but he hadn’t. He instead told her to think on it. And she had. Oh, she had thought of nothing else.

Her first thought was that it was the cauldron. After all, without the cauldron they could not create any potions. The next day, Tuesday, that was the answer she had given.

“Sir, the most important thing in the lab is a cauldron. Without it, we cannot create anything at all.” She smiled slightly at him and he looked strangely disappointed for a second before he raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“No Miss Granger. If I remove all the cauldrons, I can still create Potions. I would just use a beaker instead and adjust for material and size.” She felt deflated and pursed her lips. He flicked a half-smile at her and began to explain how he would adjust some of the more basic potions if he did not have a cauldron to use. The work was fascinating but Hermione was still distracted by the question he had posed and so she thought on it throughout the day, even when she was supervising a study session and even as she climbed between the sheets of her bed that night, she was still thinking about Severus Snape and his brain teaser. That was why she dreamed the things she did. Because she fell asleep thinking of him.

On Wednesday, she had practically skipped into the Potions Classroom. He had raised an eyebrow at her and she had slowed her pace, calming down in the face of his potential disappointment. But this time she was sure. She was positive she had it right. She had a habit of perching on his desk and she did so now, smiling at him as he tutted, glaring at her derriere as if it had genuinely offended him. She giggled slightly at the thought and then smiled at him again.

“The most important thing in the lab is the Stirring rod. Without it Potions cannot be brewed and completed correctly, regardless of what type of cauldron, or beaker, one may be able to use.” She smiled smugly at him and then realised he was not smiling. He had only raised an eyebrow and she knew that she was wrong.

“While a stirring rod is more efficient there is a spell that can be used instead if one has no access to any implement to stir with. Let me show you.” He stood from his chair and, slightly disappointedly, she followed him into the lab and learned a new spell. She always enjoyed learning a new spell or charm or…well, anything new. But today she was distracted. She still hadn’t got the answer right and it annoyed her. Hermione Granger hated to be wrong.

Thursday was a disaster. Her guess of “the ingredients” was enough to make him laugh before he taught her about substitutions and options for most, though not all, the ingredients in a standard Potion Master’s arsenal. She loved learning. She preferred learning why she was right though, not why she was wrong.

On Friday morning, she begged and pleaded with him to just give her the answer so she would be able to relax that weekend. He laughed and shook his head. He did, however, promise that if she had not got it right by the end of the day, he would tell her on Saturday evening. In his chambers, while they discussed the things she had learned over the week. She had nodded enthusiastically before realising what he meant. Her. And him. Alone in his chambers. Just the two of them. Surprisingly, she was more than ok with that.

On Friday afternoon, she asked him if it was the scalpel he insisted on using to prepare his ingredients. He shook his head with a quirk of his lips. Friday late afternoon she had wondered if she was being too complicated and had queried if, perhaps, the most important thing in the lab was the recipes.

“Miss Granger, when was the last time you saw a recipe in this lab? They are either in my head or in the books you bring to the lab with you. In the lab of a true Potions Master, there are no recipes needed. The only charts you need are the ones I have inside the storage cupboard. Have you noticed them?” She had. She had guess that her answer was wrong but had needed an answer to give him before she ruined his weekend by spending time with him.

The charts were incredible. There were three; the first was a list of all the interactions between standard ingredients, including but not limited to the difference between stirring clockwise and anti-clockwise, the second chart was a list of which ingredients were contraband, which were restricted, and which were commonly available, and the third and final chart was one that showed the colour changes that any standard potion would go through.

“And before you ask, it is not the charts either Miss Granger. While they are useful, I, and most Masters, will not need to use them. I keep them around for nostalgia’s sake.” She pursed her lips nodding and, when they had left the lab that night, she had turned to look at him sheepishly.

“I guess I will see you tomorrow then. I am sorry to ruin your weekend with my failure.” She hated how her voice broke at the idea of failing, hated that she had let him down and, more than anything, she hated that he was silent when she apologised. She walked away, her head pounding so loudly that she heard nothing he may have said to her as she left. She didn’t hear him telling her that it would not ruin his time to spend his weekend with her. She didn’t see him slump against the door as he realised that perhaps he was ruining her weekend. She didn’t see the silent tear that ran down his cheek before he walked back to his chambers.

She walked to the lab precisely at three in the afternoon, the time he had suggested. She had reviewed over and over and over again all the possible things in a lab that could be important. Not just important, but the _most_ important. She remembered all the things he had taught her and knew they would discuss those. She had tried and tried to put aside her frustration, had even primped and pampered herself in a way that was unusual for her. She had washed her hair, opting to leave it loose. She had dressed in her usual Apprentice Robes but underneath the simple black robes with her Potions Apprentice badge that she was so very proud of, she wore a black silk blouse and smart tight black skirt. She had made sure she was as relaxed as she could be. But the nerves in her stomach, the flutter that had started after the dreams of him this week, could not be quieted.

She approached the lab door and knocked, waiting for his voice but, on hearing nothing she stepped inside nonetheless, closing and warding the door behind her, as she always had. She turned around and looked for him in the lab but saw nothing.

“Professor Snape?” She called out to him and he poked his head out of the door behind his desk. He looked odd, uncomfortable. She would even have gone so far as to say nervous were it not for the fact that this was Professor Severus Snape and he did _not_ get nervous.

“Oh, you’re…you’re here. Right. Come on through then.” He popped back into the room she knew was his chambers and she took a breath and swallowed, her throat suddenly dry and the butterflies in her stomach transfiguring themselves into, fairly appropriately, giant bloodsucking bats.

She walked into his chambers and gasped slightly. On the table he had a plethora of vegetables and crusty bread pieces and two glasses of wine. In the centre of the table sat a small cauldron with a low flame underneath. He smiled shyly at her and gestured for her to sit opposite him.

“I thought you might be hungry. You weren’t at lunch and…so I made some fondue. It’s one of those foods that can be as heavy or as light as you want it and…” He trailed off and she was surprised to note that he was babbling. Definitely nervous. She pushed her own nerves down and picked up one of the long handled fondue forks, jabbing it into a piece of crusty bread and dipping it into the strong smelling melted cheese. She raised it to her lips and moaned in ecstasy as the flavour of at least three different cheeses rested on her palate. He ducked his head slightly and picked up his own fork, spearing a piece of something green and dipping it into the cheese as she reached for another piece of food.

“So, did you ever work out what the most important thing in the lab is, Hermione?” She blushed slightly as he called her by her first name, smiling slightly as she realised how much she liked it. She pursed her lips again and shook her head. Her cheeks darkened as she admitted her failure.

“No, Severus…what is the most important thing in the lab?” She tried out his name and loved the quirk of his lips that made up his smile again, the one he saved only for her.

“The most important thing in my lab, Hermione, is you.”


End file.
